Happily Ever After: A Spirit Tale
by Fancy Pants Penguin Jiao-Jie
Summary: The story of Princess Yue, from a little girl to the person she was when we saw her in the TV show. This is my attempt to give her some background and give her character some depth. Rating is subject to change.


**Happily Ever After**

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Hot lead was being pumped through her body instead of blood, and as she looked into Sokka's eyes for the last time, Yue's only thoughts were of how unfair everything was.

With the full moon absent from the sky, the spirit oasis was bathed in an eerie gray light. Color was drained from the world. It felt as though there was a gaping hole left by the death of the moon spirit. From where she stood, hands gently placed on the poor koi before her, the princess could faintly hear the screams and shrieks of terror as Aang, possessed by the ocean spirit, rampaged in the city, and yet the oasis was bathed in silence and time trickled by at a snail sloth's pace.

_You don't have to do this._ Sokka's pained words still hung in the air like fog; from somewhere beside her Yue heard Katara gasp, but the sound was muffled and distant.

Recalling the happiness of her last few days with Sokka and his friends, the princess felt a warm streak slide down her cheek; she had never in her life been happier, nor had more hope for what the future held. A tingling sensation formed beneath her gloves and worked its way from her fingertips up her wrists, then towards her elbows. For the first time since the spirit's murder her shock and self-pity were replaced by terror. Something was leeching out of her. Her legs started to feel cold and shaky beneath the layers of her fur coat; the ground began to tilt and an unusual bittersweet smell that the princess did not recognize filled the air.

Panic shot through every nerve in her body like lightening and all the princess wanted to do was run away. She thought for a moment that there may be time to jerk her hands away from the spirit and undo what was happening, but she was rooted to the spot.

Yue allowed herself to imagine for a moment that she _did_ run away. She would go with Sokka and they would find someplace to live. Someplace warm. Someplace safe. Unlike the North Pole, there would be flowers and grass and the water would be warm enough to swim in. With him, her life would be filled with smiles and laughter and eventually they would grow old together. _Happily ever after,_ thought the princess recalling the spirit tales her mother told her as a child. She closed her eyes, imagining that she could feel the warmth of the sun on her face; she considered for a moment how unfair it was that the princesses from those children's stories always lived 'happily ever after' but a real princess was forced to give up everything for the sake of others.

Then, a cool breeze broke through Yue's fantasy of life, her beautiful picture of flowers and sunlight was shattered when she opened her eyes. A soft voice seemed to speak directly into Yue's mind; there was no sound and the words melted away as soon as they were formed, leaving the princess with an impression, like boots on snow, of what was being said but no solid sentences or phrases.

From the depths of Yue's memory the voice pulled forward painful thoughts of lost friends and reminded the princess of the gravity of her choice; in the end there was no good or evil, no fair or unfair, only balance.

The screams of the doomed Fire Nation soldiers in the city were amplified inside her head. If she ran away, she would not live happily ever after with Sokka. The universe would be thrown out of balance permanently and the spirit world would be thrown into chaos. The Fire Nation would win the war, destroying the other elements and increasing the instability of the world. She, her family, tribe and Sokka would be killed.

The princess took a deep breath and when she exhaled the fear and indecisiveness were expelled as well, leaving only the echo of the voice like tinkling bells and a sense of peace. This was her only choice. The order of the entire world depended on her now and turning her back on everyone and everything she cared about would be nothing but selfish.

Her dreams of happiness would come true, she knew that. She would just not be present for them. This way her friends could live out her dreams for her and the universe would continue to exist. It was not unfair that a princess had to give up everything. It _was_ her duty; if a princess _didn't _sacrifice it all for her people she wasn't worthy of their respect or love. Although she was still afraid, Yue had made up her mind.

Instead of focusing on everything she would lose, the young woman instead chose to remember happier times. These are the thoughts that she held in her mind as the chiming of the bells intensified and other sounds started to dim. Soon she could not feel her hands anymore. Then her arms were numb up to her shoulders. Her head felt like she was floating and her body was heavy as though she was falling asleep and soon her consciousness dripped away.

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**A/N:** I hope that you all enjoyed the introduction to my new story! Let me know what you think! Since this is such a short little teaser I'll be publishing a second chapter soon. n.n

A special thank you to my friend The Mountain for helping me!


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